'I'm Begging': Mayor Brandon Scott Implores Witnesses In Teen Girl's Murder To Speak Up
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A 13-year-old girl has become another one of Baltimore's murder victims.
"Thirteen years old, 13. Full of promise and an entire life ahead of her, taken from her family, from her friends and our city," Mayor Brandon Scott said Friday. "Just like that, in an instant."
Police said gun fire echoed in the air outside the Lillian Jones Recreation Center on N. Stricker Street on Thursday night.
In the aftermath -- Maliyah Turner had fatal injuries.
"If you honor any semblance of the fact that someone was lost, please turn yourself in," Councilman James Torrence said.
The mayor said a lot of people were there, so someone knows something.
"I'm asking, really I'm begging, anyone who knows or saw anything to speak up and let us know," he said.
In Baltimore's more than 300 homicides thus far, the crime this week has been particularly tragic and overwhelming.
It started over the weekend when a gunman shot and killed two barbers.
Then Monday, 5-year-old Nivea Anderson was found unresponsive. Homicide detectives are looking into that case.
Tuesday, 69-year-old Evelyn Player was found stabbed to death in a church.
Police have a "person of interest" in that case.
And now, another child is gone.
Despite a message on the sidewalk that said this was a "No Shoot Zone," another community is now in mourning.
"I feel my heart bleeding for the family, bleeding for young people, 13 years old, they don't even know if it's safe to go to the recreation center," said Pastor Blackmon.
